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SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
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‘Closer to knowing’ Family longs for answers after relative died in Korean War
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Assessors publish for 4 townships Deadline for property owners to appeal nears By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Linda Thomson poses for a portrait Wednesday outside her Algonquin home. Thomson’s uncle died as a prisoner of war in the Korean War during the Tiger Death March. His remains have not been recovered. By EMILY K. COLEMAN
MacLean funeral
ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Note to readers: As the family of Cpl. Donald Victor MacLean, who died in the Korean War, buries his remains Saturday, many other families are still awaiting that closure. Here is the story of one such area family.
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LGONQUIN – When Linda Thomson was a little girl, her grandmother would tell her stories about her Uncle Keith. Ensign Keith Thomson, a pilot with the U.S. Navy, was adventurous, very smart and never had to study, her grandmother, Helen Rutledge, told her. His picture sat in a place of honor in her Macomb home. He died before Linda Thomson was born. “I was the oldest, so she showed me the picture, and I was always the one that felt her pain and her torment for not knowing what really happened to him,” said Thomson, who has lived in Algonquin for the past 23 years. When the Navy contacted her a few years ago, she decided to find out what happened, first as a pursuit for
Photo provided
Ensign Keith Edward Thomson prepares for his first flight. Thomson graduated from flight school in 1947. He was declared missing in action early in the Korean War. He died of malnutrition as a prisoner of war five or six months after he was captured, according to witness statements. His family has never gotten his remains back, and the burial site where he died is believed to be undisturbed. her grandmother and later for herself as well. Rutledge died in 1996, and Thomson’s father, Fred Thomson, died in 1988. Linda Thomson and her brother, Jerry, went to Washington, D.C., and started attending meetings for the families of missing soldiers. The number of family members attending these meetings has grown from 211 in 1996 to
1,001 in 2012, according to the Defense Department’s Missing Personnel Office. This past year, the questions leveled by family members at these meetings have been much more direct, she said, adding that she thinks as the years wear on and immediate relatives die, the frustration and anger grows.
See KOREAN WAR, page A9
Cpl. Donald Victor MacLean was reunited with his family Wednesday, 63 years after he was declared missing in action during the Korean War. MacLean’s remains were identified this year after new technology made it possible to match him with the remains of one of about 800 unidentified servicemen buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. A procession Saturday will take MacLean’s remains from Justen Funeral Home, located at 3700 Charles Miller Road in McHenry, to Windridge Memorial Park & Nature Center, 7014 S. Rawson Bridge Road in Cary. The procession starts at 12:15 p.m. and will include escorts from organizations and law enforcement agencies throughout McHenry County. The route will head south on Green Street, which turns into Barreville Road; east on Nish Road; south on Valley View Road, across Route 176; east on Crystal Lake Avenue; and south on Rawson Bridge Road to the cemetery.
– Lawerence Synett
The publishing of assessments in four more McHenry County townships starts the clock for property owners to appeal them. Landowners in Dorr Township have until Sept. 20, while owners in Chemung and Riley townships have until Sept. 23, and Nunda Township owners have until Sept. 25. Only three of the county’s 17 townships – Algonquin, Marengo and Burton – have not published their assessments. The deadlines for all others besides the most recent four have passed. McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Robert Ross said Marengo Township’s assessments should be published sometime in the first half of September. Property owners have 30 days from when their township’s assessments are published in a newspaper of record to appeal. The record number of appeals that Ross’ office has received in recent years has prompted it to ask township assessors to push up their
See APPEALS, page A10
WOODSTOCK
TRIAL DATE SET FOR RAPE SUSPECT A December trial date has been set for a man accused of raping women he met through Craigslist and other websites. Charles R. Oliver, 45, of Woodstock is facing multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful restraint. Prosecutors have said he tied up women, beat them and forced them to have sex with him. For more, see page B1.
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
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CRYSTAL LAKE: Local pickle company adds spicy flavor to lineup, plans more pickled products. Business, E1 Vol. 28, Issue 243
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• Dorr Township property owners have until Sept. 20. • Property owners in Chemung and Riley townships have until Sept. 23. • Nunda Township property owners have until Sept. 25. • Assessments for Algonquin, Marengo and Burton townships have not been published yet. • The deadlines for all other McHenry County townships have passed.
Source: McHenry County Office of Assessments
U.S. nearing strike in Syria The ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON – Edging toward a punitive strike against Syria, President Barack Obama said Friday he is weighing “limited and narrow” action as the administration bluntly accused Bashar Assad’s government of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1,429 people – far more than previous estimates – including more than 400 children. No “boots on the ground,” Obama said, seeking to reassure Americans weary after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
See SYRIA, page A10
LOCALLY SPEAKING
Deadlines
Inside President Barack Obama is poised to be the first U.S. leader in three decades to attack a foreign nation without mustering broad international support or acting in direct defense of Americans. PAGE A4